Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-09-06
naf1nR eagle
THE FREE BATHS.
ONE OF THE POPULAR iNSTITU.
TONS OF THE METROPOLIS.

a Blessing to New York's Warm and
Perspiring Juveniles-"Ladies- Days."
When Cash Girls and Mill Employees
Have a Chance.
Among the many public institutions Of
this city the free bathing system is during
the summer months pre-eminently the
most popular. The free bathing house is
the poor mans seaside, and from day to
day during the summer season the warm
and perspiring humanity of the town
turns out in countless numbers, and seeks
within its ugly wooden walls invigorating
GOODNESS and health renewing exercise.
On Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and
part of Sunday the men and boys take
possession of the houses, while Monday,
Wednesday and Friday are ''ladies' days"
In the former crowd there is generally q
sprinkling of mechanics, day laborers and
clerks, but the major part of it consists of
youtd-wild, exuberant youth; youth OF
different ages, nationality and attire, but
with one single object in view, and that
to dodge the keeper and SWIM as long and
often as possible Pushing and struggling
for an entrance there are leaden heeled
messenger boys displaying for the moment
that marvellous activity that they never
exhibit anywhere else but on the signs and
advertisements of their respective compa-
MES; office boys, who have been sent upon
important errands, which in the eX-
element of the moment they have forgot
ten all about, and schoolboys, who are
''playing hockey" within whom, even in
the midst of their widest pleasure, rises
disheartening conjectures as to how they
are going to catch it tomorrow.
THE BOY FROM NOWHERE.
But the boy who comes from nowhere
and belongs to nobody is the predominant
ing element. This vagrant juvenile is Of
no particular age or size, is sometimes the
poSSessor of budding mustache and
sometimes but a mere infant. His parents
being unable to bear the expense of sup
porting him, turned him out an early age;
so as far az family ties are concerned he is
uEburGened by them, and lives on in bliss
full ignorance of the fact that he ever had
any relations. His dress is marked
throughout by an extreme simplicity. 1t
consists of worn out shirt and n single
suspender that supports q pair of trousers
which, in addition to being either incon-
Veniently too large or ridiculously too
small, are covered with ingeniously in
serted and many colored patches. Hats,
shoes and stockings are looked upon as
effeminate luXuries, and are scorned ac-
cordingly. His language conyinces you
at once that he is not a member of Bible
class, for it is permeated with species Of
precocious profanity that for fertility Of
invention cannot be surpassed. An
empty barrel with some straw in the bot
tom of it answers Tor home during one
part of the year, while a hallway or
secluded alley suffices when The winter
comes. During the warm months he
spends his day in the water; the keeper
may put him out again and again, may
threaten him until his voice grows weak
and may congratulate himself that he has
finally got rid of him, but nevertheless he
always comes back. \ twist of the hair,
Il turn of the shirt, and he boldly marches
in as somebody else. At the first cold |
snap he deserts the docks and disappears |
among the labyrinthian lanes of the tene- |
ment house region.
On 'ladies' days the assemblage that |
gathers at the baths is a small and quiet |
one. 1t is greatest towards evening when
the stores close up and the factories and
mills stop running. The little cash girl |
with her bathing suit under her arm comes |
down with II number of her bosom friends |
or perhaps her mother, and plunging into |
the inviting waves forgets for delicious |
twenty minutes that there are such things |
as crowded and heated stores, lynx eyed |
and faulttinding floor walkers and domi-
neering salesladies, although from morn
ing TO night these three things are the |
irritating and disturbing elements in her |
small life
ToILEES FROM THE MILLS.
The women and children who toll in the |
mills are there, glad to escape for q few
short hours from the whirring wheels, the |
din of the machinery, and the clashing
SpindleS that weave out the web that |
never seems to ED. But the most pathet-
ic figure there is that of the poor seam
stress who has left her work in the dingy
garnet for Il few moments and stolen away |
to enjoy a dip before commencing again |
She does not laugh and shout as the others
do, but comes quietly away when the |
bath is over. The river has given little
sparkle to her weary eyes and little color
to her faded checks, and she goes back to |
the dinGy garnet the suffering candle |
and the work that will last long after the |
other inmates of the house are asleep,
with a lighter heart. To her it is the only |
pleasure of the day Two matrons, a
baths on the women's days to preserve
order, while the men are looked after by
one policeman and couple of keepers.
The lot of the keeper is an enviable one.
He is the autocrat of the bath house. His
eye confuseS the scheming small boys and
his voice strikes terror to their hearts,
while strong men hear him and meekly
obey. In his hand he carries long and
springy rattan, which with the dexterity
born of long experience, he artfully twines
around inoffensive little boys legs and |
cracks over their shoulders. The little |
boy may complain, may cry, may expostu-
late, but it will avail him nothing. for be-
hind the wielder of the rattan is the police |
man and behind the policeman is the law.
So the best thing for the little boy to do is
to cut and run for il. The lot of the |
policeman is not such an unpleasant one,
for the position gives him unlimited op- |
portunity for repose and reflection and |
congenial conversation with the Keeper
New York World.